April 25, 2025
Archbishop Timothy Broglio and all members of The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
3211 4th Street NE
Washington, D.C. 20017
Your Excellency and Our Brothers in Christ:
We wish each of you a belated Happy Easter.
We also write to you and all your fellow bishops with a very deep concern about our government and our Church. We, as daughters of Catherine of Siena, write to you close to her feast day in hopes that you will hear our voices and take to heart our concerns. It was the wider world and the universal church that drew and claimed Catherine’s attention. She lived in a tumultuous era, just as we do now. Though she had no educational degrees, she became a peacemaker and a mediator as well as a person who was convinced she had a part to play in righting the wrongs in society and in the Church.
We write to you with some of her passion and the passion in each one of us. We believe our country is moving headlong into dictatorship and is sinking into further chaos and injustice. We also believe that all of us must take a long, hard look at some of the actions and decisions that have led the American people down that path.
For many years, the bishops’ focus has been mainly on one issue. We believe that choice has led to the election of a president who is doing everything in his power to do away with democracy in this country. We believe that many priests and perhaps, bishops, too, have openly condemned a candidate on that one issue alone and have duped many people into thinking they were making “America great again.”
Our brothers, there are many other sins that are condemning people to torture and to death in our world today. We want to hear the Bishops’ voices when Palestinians are killed indiscriminately every day, forced to flee persecution and to live in refugee camps, exiled from their homeland, threatened with complete takeover of their land. They are our brothers and sisters.
We want to hear your voices when Ukrainians are slaughtered because of greed for power and territory, when our country cuts off aid to them and leaves them without resources to defend themselves. We want to hear our Bishops’ voices when immigrants are picked up in their homes and work and sent back to their countries without due process of law. We want to hear your voices when Muslims are treated as terrorists and Native Americans and Blacks are seen as noncitizens of this country. We want to hear your voices when Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are abolished with the snap of a finger by a President who seizes the power of every branch of our government,
We commend those bishops who stand up for justice. They have not turned a blind eye to the injustices in our country and in our world. They have dared to put their bodies and souls on the line. Bishops from almost 30 states have already spoken out for respect towards immigrants, including the Archdiocese of Louisville, of which we are a part.
Could not the USCCB speak with one united and stronger voice about these timely issues of our day? We do not want the Church to be an irrelevant artifact, an ally only of the rich and the propertied class, but of the People of God. Proclamations of the Bishops should inspire us to be willing to leave our insulated worlds and willing to enter fully into the life of the marginalized.
We ask you to be bold, to leave the safety of your positions and to be a Church of the People of God. Our world desperately needs religious leaders who will speak Truth to power. We ask you to share this with your brother bishops.
Your Sisters in Christ,
Sister-authors, Thank you for this respectful letter to our timid bishops; I am so proud of those who wrote such a compelling letter on our behalf. Surely it helps to remind them that one of the four female Doctors of the Church was a vocal teacher/preacher to he people of her times, including the Papacy. They may take that saintly reference more kindly than a reminder-reference to a modern woman such as Reverend Dr. Mary Ann Budde, Episcopal Bishop of Washington. It all needed to be said.
Again, thank you; and happy St. Catherine of Siena feast day to you..
Catherine Mahady
Thanks to the composers of this letter and the bold, creative and courageous Dominican Sisters of Peace community. I appreciate how you carry on the legacy of St. Catherine of Siena.
Thank you for writing this courageous letter for us. Catherine tells us to Preach the Truth as if we had a million voices!
My thoughts that you have expressed so well !!
Thank you!!
I feel blessed to have a places in the DSOP community that speaks Truth to Power as in this letter. Thanks ever so much to the composers..
Thank for this thoughtful and passionate letter in the spirit of our Catherine. I and many of my friends support this position and anguish o ver the silence of our bishops. We join with you as you raise your voice. So proud to call you my Sisters
Joan Scanlon op
How can I not keep from singing! Miles de gracias.
Barb Harrington, OP
Thank you for writing such a courageous letter on behalf of all of us! I wish the 435 in Washington had as much courage. God Bless us all….
A deep bow and gratitude for this letter of truth regarding what is happening in America. We need your leadership especially our bishops at this moment in time. We need to hear from you more than ever to set us free and hear the Truth, the Truth of Jesus who loves the poor and vulnerable., We are all connected as our Native Americans tell us. Our constitution is not being respected and followed. We are a one nation under God, built for the people and by the people and not a one man show.
Thank you sisters for this letter to our Bishops. We pray to hear from the Bishops. A Blessed Feast of St. Catherine of Siena.
Thank you, sisters for speaking so clearly and respectfully to the bishops. Your call to awaken their voice is so needed. We are in a desperate circumstances in this country, as you stated so well to the loss of democracy and the disregard for due process of law.
Well stated! Thank you, Sisters for your courageous letter to our Bishops, reminding them of the call to be advocates for the poor, for justice for ALL, and to speak out as true followers of our Lord Jesus!